Kabul, Oct 28 (NVI) The three-day peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Turkey collapsed and ended today without any agreement, mainly because of the belligerent and humiliating attitude of the Pakistani delegation, according to sources privy of the developments over the last three days.
The attitude of the Pakistani delegation was found to be rude, humiliating and demeaning towards the Afghans, sources said, adding the manner in which the talks broke indicated that the hostilities could increase between the two neighbours.
The main sticking point at the talks, brokered by Turkey and Qatar, was Pakistan’s illogical insistence that the Afghan side should “guarantee” that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, will not conduct any operations against the Pakistani State.
Another major reason for the failure of the talks was Pakistan’s refusal to guarantee that Afghanistan’s air space would not be violated in future.
Afghanistan has faced several aerial attacks from the Pakistani soil, carried out either by the Pakistani military or the US military.
At the talks, Afghanistan insisted insisted that such actions should no longer happen and Pakistan should not allow the US to carry out drone attacks inside Afghanistan.
The Pakistani delegation initially agreed to give such a guarantee but reversed the decision after a phone call, reported TOLO news of Afghanistan.
It added that Pakistan also admitted during the talks that it has an agreement with the United States to allow drone strikes inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan also refused to give any assurance about taking action against ISIS or Daesh terror network, which uses the Pakistani soil to carry out attacks in Afghanistan, sources said.
In turn, the Pakistani delegation claimed that TTP was using the Afghan territory to carry out attacks in Pakistan and wanted the Afghanistan government to guarantee that TTP would stop its activities.
The Afghan side maintained that it has nothing to do with what the TTP does and said it was Pakistan’s internal matter.
Controlling attacks inside Pakistan is the job of its military and security forces, the Afghan delegation told its counterpart.
At this, the Pakistani delegation threatened that if the TTP carries out an attack in Pakistan, Afghanistan will be targeted by Pakistan.
This angered the Afghan delegation, which said any provocative action by Pakistan would be given a befitting response.
According to sources, the demand by Pakistan that Afghanistan should call TTP groups into Afghanistan and control them surprised even the mediators — representatives of Qatar and Turkey.
Many a time, the Pakistani military officials present at the negotiating table mocked Afghans and passed offensive remarks, which was not liked by the representatives of Qatar and Turkey. (NVI)
